John Sanford

Born: John McAnuff Sanford
Birthday: October 1, 1971
Location: Denver, CO, U.S.
Alma mater: California Institute of the Arts
Occupation: Animator, Storyboard, Director, Writer
Years active: 1993-present

John Sanford is a writer, storyboard artist, animator, and director who has worked since 1993 for studios like Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks, Nick Toons, and Warner Bros. He is known for his story work on projects like The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Bolt, Megamind, Tom & Jerry (2021), and John co-directed Home on the Range.

The Author

Lavalle Lee

Lavalle Lee has been creating animated cartoons online since 1999/2000 for his website flashcartoons.org. Many cartoons on the site have gained viral video status reaching millions of viewers online. In 2009, Lavalle started learning hand drawn animation from Don Bluth in his animation classes, as well as attending his Masterclasses in Arizona. He has also personally studied animation and visual effects from Veteran Disney animators in Orlando, FL.

Lavalle is widely known in the animation industry as the creator of the TraditionalAnimation.com website. After seeing that most animation sites were about all types of animation, not any specific to classical hand drawn animation, Lavalle knew Traditional Animation needed to be represented online. TraditionalAnimation.com has become the leading website and social media account for all things 2D. The website served as inspiration for “The Traditional Animation Show” in which Lavalle was both producer and host.

His partnership with Don Bluth began when he championed the Dragon's Lair Indiegogo campaign as lead project manager, editor, voice actor and in-betweener. The campaign reached $730,000 dollars to produce a 7-minute pitch video. In 2017, Lavalle brought the idea of creating a school to Don Bluth, and Don Bluth University was born. After a decade of learning from Don Bluth and working together on multiple pitches and business ventures, Lavalle accepted the position as Vice President of Don Bluth's new company Don Bluth Studios.